The body had a nice deep brownish amber color with good clarity. Its head was light tan in color, big and think with very good retention. It also made lots of lacing on the glass. Its aroma has big, sweet and malty body with some light nutty and fruity notes. The flavor has a solid toasted malty character with a mellow buttery/nutty presence. Hop flavor is modest, slightly floral, and adds just enough bitterness for some balance. The hops comes out more towards the finish which is fairly clean and somewhat dryer. The texture is wet and easy drinking with average carbonation and a medium body. Overall this is a solid ale and works well as one of Saranac’s Winter Seasonal beers

Pours deep coper, slight thin head, this lacing that dissipates quickly. Bready, toffee caramel aroma. Sweet bready malt, toffee, caramel taste up front, bit of noble hop bitterness mid mouth and on the finish with more toffee and caramel. Mouth feel is thin, slightly more than medium carbonation, pleasent. Overal tasty, well made beer, not great, but good for a vienna type lager, almost a marzen flavor, but less robust and refined.

Appearance: ½” thin off white head recedes rapidly, leaving light lacing. Significant amount of carbonation bubbles. Color is light brown and mostly clear.
Aroma: mild but pleasant aroma. A little hop spice but mostly malt – whole wheat bread, a little caramel and slight nuttiness.
Mouthfeel: fairly light bodied with heavy carbonation. Mostly watery with a somewhat dry finish.
Flavor: caramel and nut flavors are predominate. There is some hop spice in the finish. There is also a bready aspect—similar to yeast rolls.
Overall: a pleasant beer, not outstanding, but not bad at all. I would recommend giving this one a try. Would probably pair very well with cheddar cheese and some crackers.

Saranac Season’s Best is actually an impressive beer for many reasons, the most notable being that it’s a lager as it does not have any of the typical characteristics you’d expect even from an amber or other dark lager. Nor does it go overboard with hops, but opts to play it a bit more mainstream.

I poured a 12oz bottle into an official Saranac shaker pint.

Appearance: Dark amber/copper/brownish hue. Clear, not much visible carbonation. Forms an average size, khaki-colored, soapy head which fizzles away rather quickly and leaves on trace lacing on the glass.

Smell: Dark malty sweetness and a hint of roasted chestnut and some other earthy scent.

Taste: It’s hard to believe Saranac Season’s Best is a lager because it doesn’t taste like one in the least bit. Though technically a Vienna-style lager, it’s more akin to a brown ale with its sweet malty taste and significant nut character. Caramel and toffee seem to be quite prominent here, plus a hint of butterscotch. A quick burst of bitterness on just before the beer finishes with a cyclical pattern of more malty nuttiness.

Drinkability: Not only does Saranac Season’s Best taste pretty darn good, it’s also easy to get it down. Bigger bodied than most brews of the type, the mouthfeel is weighty with a smooth texture and a clean aftertaste. Not generic beer fizziness here. The relatively light weight of only 5.3% ABV is also impressive considering how much flavor is to be found here.

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